Former Florida Republican officials file in support of pro-abortion amendment initiative

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Several Florida Republican elected officials filed a brief with the Florida Supreme Court expressing their support for the pro-abortion ballot initiative in the state.

Among the ten former GOP officials who joined in the filing included former Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll.

The brief came after Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s continuous attempts to prevent the initiative by Floridians Protecting Freedom from gaining ballot access in 2024 because of concerns that the initiative might mislead voters.

The amendment proposal reads that “no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.”

The legality of Florida’s 15-week abortion ban is currently being considered by the Florida Supreme Court. If the court rules in favor of that ban, the state’s newly-passed six-week abortion ban will also go into effect.

”Although we have a range of opinion regarding the initiative, we filed this brief in support of it because we respect the authority of the people to engage directly in our democracy and believe the initiative petition to meet minimal requirements,” the brief supporting the ballot initiative read.

”We express our views with the greatest humility and deference to the people. This humility is grounded in our experience serving Florida’s people as elected representatives,” they added.

Along with Carroll, the other members who joined in the brief were former state Sens. Paula Dockery and Dennis Jones, former state Reps. Raymond Pilon and Juan-Carlos Planas, and former county Commissioners Elizabeth Benac, Misty Servia and Carolyn Whitmore.

“We take no position ourselves on the abortion issue,” the brief’s argument read. “Some of us are ideologically opposed to abortion. Others believe that government interference with very private medical decisions should be extremely limited. But we all believe that Floridians themselves should decide directly what the political branches are permitted to do in this area.”

Moody explained in an op-ed for Florida’s Voice that her push to prevent the initiative from getting on the ballot has nothing to do with her personal view on the issue, but instead, her concerns about initiatives that mislead voters.

”The sponsor has gone so far attempting to deceive Floridians as to not post any information on its website on what it means by viability and when the right to abortion, which it is attempting to enshrine in our Constitution, ends,” Moody said.

“While I personally would not vote for this initiative no matter what definition of ‘viability’ it was using, I know that to some voters, it is material to their vote – whether you are talking about an abortion in the first trimester or at the end of the second trimester,” she said.

The brief responded to Moody’s attempts by stating that she does not “respect the power of the voters” when deciding the state law.

”We urge the court to reject the attorney general’s effort to limit the people’s power,” they said.

The brief also argued that the initiative was justified to be put on the ballot because it was a single subject proposal and the title is “appropriately neutral.”

”Whether one supports abortion is irrelevant,” they said. “The constitutionally protected citizens’ initiative process should move forward and the initiative should reach the people, as the U.S. Supreme Court in Dobbs suggested, so that the people themselves can decide the issue.”

Floridians Protecting Freedom celebrated the former Republican officials supporting their initiative on social media.

”In the wake of Ohio voters approving a similar amendment, and victories in deep-red Kansas, Montana, and Kentucky, a group of former [Republican] officials filed their brief Friday in support of the ‘Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion,’” they said.

Carroll resigned after serving less than one term as Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott’s first lieutenant governor, while he was governor from 2011-2019.

She has since been outspoken against his former administration, attacking him both personally and politically.